. >> reporter: america's dismal educational ranks led to the push for moore rigorous standards. nationwide only 35% of 8th graders met expectations in reading. and only 25% of high school graduates who took the a.c.t. college entrance exam testedded ready for college. the university of chicago's tim nolls says the poor outcome led to the call for new standards. >> one of the main motivations is looking at the highest performing countries in the world and the most improving countries in the world and saying, what are they doing? one of the things that we find that they're doing is they're teaching many fewer standards. in singapore, for example, which has some of the best mathematics and science results in the world they teach literally half the standards that america attempts to teach. >> reporter: the common core standards were developed by teachers, school administrators, experts and parents. but the developers say the federal government did not have a role in creating the standards. instead they were state-driven. each state must approve the standards if they are to be used.